19 Mar 2021
The MRHS Harmony Day celebrations were a fantastic success, with students enjoying food from around the world, henna tattoos, face painting, a touch football league that spanned nations, a film screening and performances from around the world.
Students from the Griffith site were bussed in at about 11 and were given a warm welcome by their Wade peers. They all dazzled in their multicultural and orange outfits. The art department soon set up a stall to ply their talents to painting faces and Mrs Chugha was kept busy all day painting henna tattoos in her very own stall next door.
Shortly after, the food showed up. Student volunteers filled up plates with a variety of world cuisines. Afghani, Chinese, Fijian, Filipino, Samoan, Indian, Italian, Irish and Tongan foods were heaped into student dishes courtesy of the local community. For those who still had an appetite, sweets and desserts were available. For 2 dollars students could buy tiramisus and French cheesecakes (courtesy of Food Technology), Tongan sweet dumplings and Indian treats.
After the staff and students were fed and watered, the entertainment started. MC’d by Nicholas and Bailee, the performance opened with an acknowledgement of country. This was then followed by the dance that the Marrambidya Dance group have been workshopping with Bangarra Dance Theatre. Dances ensued from around the world, covering Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and even a Korean dance from Timote Liu.
Brendan Codemo also wowed the crowd with his rendition of “You Are The Reason” as did singers D’Ella Sayers O’Malley, Damian Thorne, Eden Gyles, Jiordan Wallace-Chapman, Sophie Roth and Tusiata Tafili.
Afterward, down on the football field, students were randomly allocated to the Philippines, Fiji, Indigenous, Samoa, Australia, Pakistan, Tonga or India teams for the touch football tournament. In the end the Philippines won the day with especially outstanding performances from Isaac Railao, Moses Ioane and Wilson Nabete. As a matter of fact, it was such a strong performance from the Philippines that they even humbled the teacher team that was pitched against them.
For students who wanted a quieter afternoon, the Samoan comedy Three Wise Cousins was screening in the library. As 3pm came around staff and students, exhausted from a full day, returned to class with big grins on their faces.
The festivity was a resounding success and a celebration of the wonderful range of cultures at MRHS. It could not have happened without the hard work and dedication of our very own Nau Mahe. Nau managed to source the food from our very generous community, procured all of the equipment, roped in student and staff volunteers and managed to get the day running seamlessly. Congratulations and massive thanks for a fantastic day, Nau.